Advantages

"Friendly staff"

"A lot of branches"

Disadvantages

"Unexciting product range"

"Not as many branches as there used to be"

Good, but not Great

I've been banking with RBS for my current account since 2000. The extensive branch network has been useful meaning I have always been able to find a branch near where to I have lived and worked. Having said that, the branch network has been progressively reduced since the 2008 financial crisis, which has meant a longer walk sometimes to pay in cheques or cash. Branch staff, without exception, have been friendly, helpful and efficient - I can't fault them and just feel sorry that they have been victims of incompetent management.
Where RBS has been disappointing is that in over 14 years with them, the current account has been the only product I have held with them. I have found their savings products to be disappointing and got a very expensive life insurance quotation from them recently! I do not recall ever seeing an RBS product at or near the top of any best-buy tables.
My wife has a packaged account with RBS and the value offered by this is marginal, the travel insurance, breakdown cover and other bits and pieces can all be bought for less with a bit of shopping around.
I think RBS are beginning to see the light, though, and are to offer existing customers the same savings rates as new customers, plus a few other initiatives such as free (though limited level) overdrafts.
The questions to answer if you're thinking about an RBS account is firstly, do you want to do your banking via a real person, rather than over the internet, and if so, do RBS have a branch near you?

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I was recently a customer of think banking having crucified my credit rating at an early age...thats what happens when you take out a mortgage when you are 19!!However despite my problems I was accepted immediately and was assured I would have a dedicated account manager and all for the relatively small sum of £12.00 per month

Ok so its based online so you dont get to be able to walk into a branch and sort all your finances out and have to rely on the wonder that is internet banking.

I myself am not a great techie kinda girl and was worried I wouldnt be able to use this service very well and with ease. So shortly after opening my account I was allocated(as promised) and account manager and provided with a debit card (which was a luxury) and 24 hour being able to contact anyone if I had any problems.

My card and pin arrived very quickly and I then had to complete a form with all my incomings and outgoings so as to ensure the money manager would pay my bills on time

how it works is you have a main account (account a) and then you have a secondary account (account b) which is all derived from the same account number and sort code.

What this means is when you get paid all the money from your a account gets transferred into your b account so that you dont end up spending your bill money.....confused??

Well so was I....and quickly it became apparant that I was being charged £12.00 literally for someone to transfer money from one place to another...something I could do for free myself.

The bonus of this account is that you have a debit card and can pay bills and for those of you who have suffered with bad credit will relish in this fact that you can have this facility.

However after running this account for 6 months I realised that I hadnt shopped around...Halifax offered the same account (and no charge) to have a solo electron account with the same features.

Basically the Think Banking account is for those who cant obtain a debt card and want the benefit of a maestro card with an account manager sorting out all your bills for you.

The big downside is that you quickly lose control and depsite someone else trying to organise you it becomes frustrating and annoying that you cant control the money yourself.

For £12.00 a month I felt that as I had already given them £72.00 and not really got anything back that this wasnt the right bank for me at all.

Overall if you want someone to sort out all your bills and finances and are happy to not have any control then this is the account for you.

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RBS - Rich Bankers Skip

Rich Bankers Skip===============While getting completely brain numbed by politics generally recently, thanks to the paper ripping, feminist, jaw dropping nonsense that cavort these arenas of debate induced with flowery champagne cocktails in the members lounge. I've not seen so much mince on display since waiting in the school dinner queue; so I've realised why urgent financial matters have been lost with these types of people, who are more at home with licking boots than actually giving the bankers the boot. - Now I've seen the bigger picture.

Intelligent law making isn't required. MP's simply don't have it. They are there to make Gordon Brown look better than the average, even though he performs below average. Most of his new policies were old policies that had been left in the filing cabinet marked 'Save for a rainy day, when the Sun doesn't shine'. This leaves 'bankers with a home-run advantage. Lord Levy who conducted the initial inquiry regarding ex Chief RBS Fred Goodwin forgot to ask about his massive pension pot; which now I hasten to add has been forgotten via the media and lost amongst the black-hole of debt the UK public have had to endure. On top of huge bank bail-outs to major banks this year, not once but four times.

Business secretary 'Prince of Darkness' Mandelson's panto styled speech about the banks was exactly what you would expect from the Labour Dame. Highly entertaining all for the wrong reasons; maybe it was because he was in the 'Gay' capital of UK, eager to sample Brighton's bars of cockles and mussels. He certainly gains support in just charismatic gesturing with just one flicker of an eyebrow, compared to Darling, whose innate morose approach was styled on a shipping forecast.

Each of them were explaining the inapt financial system, which taxpayers bailed out banks especially RBS Royal Bank of Scotland; whereby 70% is in our ownership as shareholders. They even condoned the huge pay bonuses that have continued after the bail-out. Yet since the perfect financial storm that through the system into chaos; new blood has been given the wonderful chance of feathering yet more nests. That is Mr Stephen Hester, who replaced shamed Fred "the Shred" Goodwin at the helm at RBS. - The deal is worth 9.3 Million pounds after three years of revamping the public image and current finances. The shareholders, that is 'us' had no say in the recruitment process or package offered. Same old RBS and Westminster illogic; that baffles those who still think we live in a democracy. - Hester isn't short of a few bob as it is, going by his bright complexion and well nourished figure. Bold bouncy and who wouldn't be; after a bumper Christmas hamper deal that makes his small current eyes sparkle.

RBS certainly know how to rub the public faces into the muddy soil. The deal is of course covers many escape goats as a goat hurder. - This is what angers the unions and shareholders. Hester has to double the share price within three years to hit the target. Potentially he could just sit his large rear and watch Jeremy Kyle all day while eating jam doughnuts and still hit his target; the share price was initially that low. - Welcome to banking, at the top. Where even poor performances can be dwarfed by obscurities can pay a hedge fund manager enough for a small island; one that hasn't been hit by a tsunami yet.

RBS has been effectively given without too much hard graft a mind boggling 20 Billion by an administration that claims it is a great opportunity for the UK taxpayer who will reap rewards in the long term, so our trust is in a 'fat cat' chief named Hester, who is a banker. I predicted the banking bust in February 2007; and mark my words the components of RBS equity will be sold off during the next ten years to cover up dismembered figures which potentially would make Frankenstein look like a Shrek fairy-tale.

Basically, Hester will infiltrate huge cuts in workforces throughout the branches and I mean also NatWest who RBS bought in 2006. - Hence why NatWest have been given a massive advertising budget in 2009 to let the UK public know what changes they're making with weekend openings; if in the next quarter the figures do not show green roots a further 30,000 employees will lose their jobs; while already multi-millionaire Hester can still endorse his bumper deal at RBS by catering for shareholders and going offshore, by playing the hedge fund game and that is by taking huge sums of cash and doubling up in tax havens across the globe. - Netting huge profits for accustomed shareholders and meeting targets that Westminster profoundly assumes will be tough. It isn't just about Hester's salary the Unions should be furious about. It is the unjust means in which the financial 'free market' system works as it doesn't help for an ethical practice across the spectrum for the RBS employees.

For individuals who have ethics in this sector, the package is outrageous for a CEO whose being paid by UK taxpayers. Hester must have thought 'I'm going to redecorate my HQ just like Elton John's walk in wardrobe'. - Hester can use the financial tools already in-place that got RBS in the mess they originally got into that will repeat the risky dangers that stalk the Capitalistic free market syndrome, learning absolutely nothing in what the toxic sub-prime markets can do to any lucrative corporation. RBS will endeavour short term wealth but won't learn from past events. The main problem for RBS is making a toxic debt package worthy of buying for competitors, at present the global financial sector is at stalemate, that won't budge so freely till 2014, that is if a second wave to the perfect financial storm doesn't hit the shores and if that happens Hester would still get his pay-off and huge pension bonuses, because RBS can prove they were not responsible. Hester has three years tinkering with markets without making a major splash. He doesn't even have to stick his head out of his ivory tower.

This last year RBS have displayed no funding cuts in corporate entertainment to privileged shareholders and other 'fat cats' who cream off the dismal financial ruin the UK has endured. Over 300,000 pounds was spent on Gland Slam events like Wimbledon, this is after the unlawful acts that lead to 24 Billion record losses, due to non regulation and a poor FSA team. Who in fact deplore RBS's stance on corporate entertainment to that magnitude, but this is what you get when the regulatory body is too weak to reform measures of what is required.

I don't take the same stance of US Paul Krugman the Nobel Prize winner in economics; he claimed that Gordon Brown has changed the financial world, because before changing the world financial system you have to change your countries financial system, to prove it works. He is incapable of even passing through rules via the FISCAL stimulus, so all that he says on the economy has to be fitted with the rhetoric he continues to display to the UK public.

RBS has a balance sheet of 1.3 Trillion, to put this into reality, the whole of the UK generates 1.5 Trillion and that was before the down-turn kicked in. The size of banks has got too big; RBS needs strict regulating by the FSA so new powers have to be drafted to enable deals to be capped during a recession period. For Hester to hit his target and reach for a huge pay-check in 2012 the share-price will have to be 70p, it really is a game of roulette, he will make even more money from private accounts alone so Westminster would of missed that trick. -

The 'Free market' is a highly risky genre, when it comes to dissolving people's lives and incomes. - Yet no-one is accountable to the demise of a nation.

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My experience of being an RBS customer

I have been with RBS for 17 years and have always had a great service from staff in the branches. Recently I have had a lot of problems with RBS regarding charges added to my account mounting up to over £300 monthly. Due to insufficient funds for their charges RBS kept my wages and made me pay £35 every week to receive them! My car insurance also came out of that account and I asked if I put money in for that would the direct debit get paid and was told yes. I then then received a letter from my insurance company telling me it had not been paid and I would receive a late payment charge. I called RBS and explained the situation and got a mouth full of cheek from the member of staff. I then wrote a letter of complaint 5 months ago which was meant to be dealt with within 28 days and I am still waiting on a reply. My advice to anyone is DO NOT BECOME A CUSTOMER OF RBS.

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A great place to do business with!

I have just opened an account with The Royal Bank Of Scotland after being with Abbey for 15 years. I started having trouble with Abbey after changing to a different account and after all that time with them you would think that they would treat me as a respected customer, well the answer to that is short and simple, no they didn't.Anyway, I decided to give one of the other high street banks a look and decided that The Royal Bank Of Scotland would be the best to meet my requirements.I went into my local branch where I made an appointment for the next day to apply to open an account with them.On the day of the appointment, even though their account representative was running slightly late, they were polite and made sure that all my needs were met. Maybe I should have mentioned earlier that I am disabled! I was asked if I would like tea, coffee etc and if I was comfortable waiting where I was, in the seating area, or if I would like to re-arrange my appointment, to which I declined and said I would be happy to wait.They only ran over my appointment time by almost 10 minutes anyway so it didn't mean waiting for too long and there were magazines on hand to read to keep me occupied!The lady dealing with my requests was friendly, helpful and extremely polite. She even made sure I was comfortable with the seating they had in the office or would I prefer something a little higher! She proceeded with my application with professionalism and was courteous too as my case wasn't as straightforward as some.Needless to say I am over the moon with my new account and hopefully will have a long and happy time banking and saving with them.

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SMASHING

I have just opened a 'think banking' account. The staff have been brilliant. I explained I have a problem after an accident of dealing with my every day banking. This account does it all for you at a cost of £12 a month. I now have complete peace of mind. Over the last year at least 10% of my income has gone in bank charges. No more, with this account the staff do all the work for you, check your balance and pay DD as they become due. They phone me whenever they receive anything out of the ordinary to check details are correct. No bank charges and no overdrawn account. The staff are totally committed to their customers and nothing is too much trouble. You get a personal member of staff so each time you phone you know who you are talking to. No internet yet but beleive it is on the cards. I can now sleep at night. Thank you all so much.